SHARE:
Friday's Afternoon Update
What you need to know about Florida today
Can tourism in the Florida Keys keep going with coronavirus concerns?
The Florida Keys relies heavily on tourists during the winter and spring seasons to get businesses through the rest of the year. And things are going according to plan, even as other tourist spots shut down over COVID-19, the global pandemic. Hotels and restaurants are full, people are booking charter boats for full and half-day fishing trips, picnickers are swimming from roadside beaches along Indian Key Fill. More from the Miami Herald.
More than 1.3 million have already voted in Florida’s presidential primaries
With less than a week remaining before Florida’s March 17 presidential preference primaries, more than 1.3 million Floridians have voted early. According to the state’s Division of Elections (DOE), as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, 1.108 million Floridians have voted by mail and 258,083 have cast ballots at early voting sites. More from the Apopka Voice
As the economic threat of the coronavirus grows, the Florida Legislature is backing away from some business tax breaks
With the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic rapidly escalating, Florida lawmakers on Thursday abandoned plans to hand out an assortment of tax breaks to businesses. Instead, the Florida Senate tentatively approved a smaller package of tax cuts — highlighted by a reduction in the state tax charged on cell phones, cable television and video streaming services, a seven-day sales-tax holiday on hurricane supplies to be held in May and a three-day sales-tax holiday on clothing and school supplies to be held in August. More from the Orlando Sentinel.
Florida named top state for emerging millennial millionaires
Thanks to South Florida’s booming real estate market, “millennial millionaires” are claiming net worths in excess of over a million dollars. The state is experiencing a reverse migration as young entrepreneurs from big cities like San Francisco and New York are fleeing pricer metropolitan areas for more affordable southern cities like Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Wynwood and Miami Beach. More from the Palm Beach Post and CBS Miami.
SpaceX moving ahead with sixth launch of Starlink internet satellites on Saturday
Coronavirus is canceling most things on Earth except rocket launches (for now, anyway). SpaceX is moving forward with a launch on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s launch complex 39A carrying a set of the company’s own Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The satellites are designed to deliver high-speed broadband internet to even the most remote corners of the globe. More from the Orlando Sentinel
Florida Dining
Restaurant industry leaders ponder their future
Owning and operating restaurants has traditionally been a career path that’s fraught with risk. Inept management, outdated decor and bad food aren’t the only threats to the restaurant industry. Larger, macroeconomic trends like automation and a rapidly declining U.S. birth rate loom on the horizon as major long-term challenges that will need to be overcome.
» More from the Business Observer.
Company Profile
Rappers help promote Miami snack company Rap Snacks
Rap Snacks uses rappers and other recording artists to promote its treats — often prominently featuring them on its packaging. The $5-million-a-year company, which CEO James Lindsay founded in 1994, bills its foods as the official “Snack of Hip Hop.”
» Read more from Florida Trend.
In case you missed it:
